Lawmakers See Cheney, Receive No Promises On Keeping Seawolf

No Promises Offered Delegation On Seawolf

January 23, 1992|By MIRANDA S. SPIVACK; Courant Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — With only a week to go before the Bush administration unveils its budget, Connecticut and Rhode Island lawmakers Wednesday took one of their most volatile issues -- the fate of the Groton-made Seawolf submarine -- directly to Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.

And it all may have been for naught.

They came away with little to show for the 30-minute session, other than the politically potent opportunity to assure their constituents that they had told Cheney in private what they have been saying publicly for weeks: Keep the Seawolf in the Pentagon budget.

Cheney's response was, at best, noncommittal. "I don't want you to leave here overly optimistic," he told the group, said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., who spoke to reporters after the meeting.

All eight members of Connecticut's congressional delegation and all four Rhode Island lawmakers attended the meeting in Cheney's office.

In recent weeks, rumors have flown that Cheney has decided to cut the submarine program as part of an effort to reduce defense spending and deliver the much-talked about peace dividend.

The Seawolf is expected to cost about $2 billion annually, making it one of the largest items in the Pentagon budget.

The lawmakers acknowledged that they did not expect -- nor did they receive -- any assurances from Cheney that he would keep the Seawolf in the defense budget, due to be released sometime next week.

But Cheney also hadn't said outright that the program would be killed, they said.

"We spoke of the continued need ... to have the Seawolf," said Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., a former Navy secretary. "The secretary listened and we made our point strongly. He certainly didn't say he was going to include it."

Most of the House members and senators from the two states met with reporters on the Pentagon steps after the meeting, as a military band blared on a nearby field and airplanes from National

Airport frequently drowned out their words.

"There is an element of pathos in this," said Rep. Barbara B. Kennelly, D-1st District, as she surveyed the scene and her colleagues struggled to be heard.

Kennelly's constituents took a major hit with this week's announced reductions in United Technologies Corp.'s Connecticut operations. Cuts in the Seawolf would further devastate the state's economy, she said.

A spokesman for Electric Boat, which makes the Seawolf, which may live or die depending on the delegation's influence, was clearly pleased all eight Connecticut lawmakers and all four members of the Rhode Island delegation had attended the meeting.

"There were no surprises, but it was an important meeting, a show of strength with the Connecticut and Rhode Island delegations," said Electric Boat spokesman Neil Ruenzel. "That sends a strong message."

The first Seawolf is under construction at General Dynamics' Electric Boat division in Groton, Conn., which employs about 17,000 workers. The second is mired in a court battle with Electric Boat's only competitor, Newport News Shipbuilding Co. of Virginia.

EB officials have said they need one submarine a year to stay in business. A decision to kill the program -- or spread out its financing -- could result in long-term layoffs of a highly specialized workforce at EB that might not be restored in time for construction of the next generation of submarines, the Centurion class, scheduled to begin in 1998.

Cheney told delegation members he was aware of such assertions, but wondered whether they were accurate, said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District.

Still, such dire predictions put intense pressure on members of Congress, especially in an election year, to show that they are doing all they can to try to preserve the Seawolf.

Rep. Sam Gejdenson, a Democrat whose 2nd congressional District includes Groton, said cutting the Seawolf could cost more in the long run if the Pentagon slowed down or killed the program and then tried to gear up in several years to make new submarines.

"It's a very tough situation ... You don't want to be making a political decision this year that you will pay for with higher costs in the future years," he said.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., said killing the Seawolf program "would be an error of historic proportions." He said he was somewhat heartened that Cheney had acknowledged in the meeting that there is a need for submarines as part of the nation's military capabilities.

"I left feeling a bit more optimistic," said Dodd, who faces re-election this fall in a state ravaged by recession.

U.S. Rep. Gary A. Franks, R-5th District, the only Connecticut member of a congressional armed services committee, said he was seeking to meet with the vice president and the White House chief of staff, Samuel K. Skinner, to press the case for the Seawolf. Franks, who has kept a low profile on the issue, said he now endorses pushing for one Seawolf a year.

U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4th District, said he came away with the impression that Cheney understands the value of EB's shipbuilding expertise, even if budget constraints may mean the Seawolf's demise.

"The Seawolf may be one of the casualties," Shays said. "But

Electric Boat is the pro. We don't want to lose that. I don't think the secretary wants to, either."